Another issue affecting EU-China relations is China's increasingly close political and economic ties with Russia.

The European Union is debating whether to drop a sensitive trade investigation against China over alleged coercive activity targeting Lithuania, a prospect that’s frustrated officials in Washington, where the incoming Trump team sees it as capitulation to Beijing.

Donald Trump's Treasury secretary pick, Scott Bessent, told lawmakers at his Senate hearing he backs using tariffs against what he called 'unfair trade practices.' During Trump's first term, the EU and China ducked some duties by buying U.